New England 2024
Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. ― Albert Camus
There are probably few places that are more associated with Autumn colour than New England. Following last year’s May trip to Canada and Alaska, we took the plunge and booked to go to the East Coast of the US in October of this year. Since booking, we’ve moved house and settled into a new area, so this trip has felt like it was a long time coming. But it was well worth the effort…
Morning Mist, Lee MA
Sony A7R V | 75mm f/8.0 1/200s ISO100
DISCLAIMER: the edit for the images was not small and, certainly towards the end, felt more like a long slog than a labour of love. While I’m generally pretty pleased with the images, there are a few that may have escaped the final cull and certainly some that could do with another edit. That is a job for another day.
The Trip
We were away for seventeen nights (eighteen if you include an overnight flight back to the UK and nineteen if you include an overnight stop in London before we travelled). We started in Boston (a city with which I have a passing acquaintance, having spent time there on business), moving up the Massachusetts coast into Maine, stopping at Kennebunk and Camden, before heading inland into New Hampshire and Vermont. Burlington marked the most western and northerly point of the trip, from where we headed back down through Vermont back and Massachusetts (via a brief - 10 minute - foray into New York State) into Rhode Island.
From Rhode Island we moved across, back into the Cape Cod area of Massachusetts, taking in a day trip to Martha’s Vineyard, before finally ending up where we started at Boston Logan International Airport for an overnight flight back into Heathrow. With a few diversions and side trips we’re pretty happy that we gave ourselves a good flavour of the area and would heartily recommend New England as a destination.
The rough plan - 1600 miles, seventeen nights and (just about) seven states…
To cover the distance we clearly needed to hire a car. This was generally fine once I’d adjusted to the fact that the steering wheel was on the wrong side of the car, that speed limits are advisory, road markings are optional and many of the intersections appeared to have been designed by a man who was drunk, under the influence of severe migraine or possibly both. In short, driving was fine but never relaxing…
Boston Area
Boston Harbour
Sony A7R V | 105mm f/4.0 1/125s ISO 6400
We planned three nights in Boston, partly to give us chance to adjust to the time difference before hitting the road but mainly to spend some time in what I think is a great city. Boston has some proper history; it’s also a pretty city with a very relaxed and welcoming atmosphere. Being here as a tourist rather than sitting in an office was very welcome.
The Freedom Trail is a must, taking in the USS Constitution and a couple of museums along the way. The history, however, doesn’t present a particularly flattering portrait of the English! A trip out to Cambridge (home of Harvard University) is also recommended - the seat of American privilege is every bit as leafy and lovely as you’d imagine. We also enjoyed the harbour area and, in particular, the views back from the harbour from one of the sunset boat tours.
Photography Note. It’s probably worth just making clear at this point that this was a holiday, not a photography tour. While I had my camera(s), I wasn’t particularly chasing the light and the images here are more travel snaps that photographic masterpieces. This is a little more relevant later on in the trip…
North Massachusetts and Into Maine
The day we left Boston was probably the least enjoyable of the trip. The staff at the car hire firm had decided to take an impromptu day off, with the result that we were about an hour later than intended picking the car up. Happily that gave plenty of opportunity for the Boston traffic to build up, making getting out of the city quite exciting in places. It also became apparent that neither of us had done a huge amount planning. The first stop was supposed to be Salem, but on a holiday weekend it looked like Blackpool with pumpkins and witches’ hats (not a compliment) having a festival of tat. It was also gridlocked and the day didn’t get much better… We resolved to up our planning game.
Rockland Breakwater Lighthouse
Sony A7R V | 80mm f/11 1/160s ISO1600
We did eventually make it to Kennebunk and then onwards to Camden, spending some time exploring the Maine coast. The coastline is dotted with lighthouses, some more accessible than others. While some are either offshore or in private hands, I think that we managed to see a representative sample and, along the way, I also discovered that there is a limit to the number of times that I can suggest a detour to take in another lighthouse…
It’s also undoubtedly the case that a number of these lighthouses are best seen from the sea. We were fortunate enough to take a couple of boat trips, one from Portland and one from Camden. The Portland trip gave us the best views of the famous Portland Head Lighthouse. We also called in, but on a holiday weekend it was inevitably quite busy. Portland is also where we stumbled across Cheech and Chong - ask Helen - opening a cannabis store…
The second boat trip was a lobster fishing vessel which gave us some insight into the lobster industry in New England as well taking in another couple of very attractive lighthouses. It was on this trip that I learned that the female counterpart to a salty sea dog is not a salty sea bitch. Apparently that’s quite rude…
Sidebar: Gun Culture
Maine was also where it was easier to get an appreciation of just how ingrained gun culture is in the US. I’d never encountered this in the cities, but in Maine over 50% of the population live in a home with guns and no permit is needed to openly carry a weapon in the streets. Gun stores are also very common.
While the gun raffle sign may provoke an amused ‘only in America’ reaction, actually meeting perfectly ordinary civilians openly carrying weapons on the trail is a little bit of a reality check. There were a number of signs on trails advising that folk should wear hunters’ orange to avoid ‘accidents’, while notices in bars prohibiting patrons from bringing in weapons highlighted that, perhaps, guns and drink don’t mix well.
In many respects it all goes towards encouraging a basic level of politeness…
Not quite the church tombola…
Moving Inland: New Hampshire, Vermont, Western Massachusetts
From Camden we headed inland, first to North Conway in New Hampshire before taking in Burlington in Vermont and lastly Lee in western Massachusetts. There were a couple of changes as we moved inland; firstly the scenery began to change and become more vibrant and, second, the weather took a turn for the better. In fact, for much of the remainder of the holiday the temperature was up in the 70s (old school Farenheit) with a couple of days nudging over 80.
The other thing that struck me was just the sheer enormousness of the autumn scenes. It’s not that you can’t find this colour elsewhere, but it’s that the quality is superb and the scale simply simply outrageous. It stretches for mile after mile with just the occasional break as you pass through a small town or village with the result that you end up feeling a little overwhelmed. A bit like the calamari in Via Sophia (the portion was huge)!
Kancamagus Highway
Sony A7R V | 95mm f/8.0 1/200s ISO 100
There were a couple of highlights from this section of the trip. The tour up Mount Washington was undoubtedly well worth doing and, by taking the tour rather than driving ourselves, we were able to get much higher up the mountain. The vistas once you get above the treeline are fabulous. It also feels quite American that the mountain wasn’t named by the settlers until someone built a road to the top.
The other major highlight was the Kancamagus Highway which runs from Conway to Lincoln in New Hampshire. This stretch of road takes you through some spectacular colour and, unusually, provides a number of stopping places where you can take in some of the stunning scenery. Before then, through, we did manage to get out and tentatively explore the start of a couple of the local hiking trails. For keen walkers the area would be a paradise with plenty of well-maintained hiking trails. (But don’t forget your orange coat)!
Following Conway and Kancamagus we ended up in Burlington - this is one place that I wish we’d stayed longer. Sitting by Lake Champlain the place just had a lovely feel to it, with the added bonus of some lovely, tranquil views over the lake later in the afternoon. The one suggestion, however, would be some local sanctions for anyone looking to provide lakeside ‘entertainment’.
From Burlington we meandered south towards Lee in western Massachusetts. Neither Helen nor I could remember why we’d booked a stop in Lee, but I am glad that we did. No only did I get one of my favourite images from the trip (the misty morning scene at the head of the post), but it also turned out to be a great place to explore some of the less obvious attractions. I was, however, stung on the lip at Berkshire Botanic Gardens by a wasp which bloody hurt!
Photography Note. While I thoroughly enjoyed out brief exploration of this area, photographically there were a couple of frustrations. The first is that there were very few stopping places on the highways that we travelled. For most of the time there simply wasn’t space to pull over to the side safely given the lack of any proper verges. Roadside stops to take in the views were, then, almost impossible. Even if you could stop then typically you’d be in the trees rather than above the treeline which, again, was far from ideal. For a photography trip I would probably restrict myself to one or two areas and make a point of properly researching the potential viewpoints on the many trails and away from the highways.
The other frustration was the weather which, while lovely, also meant that for the large part the light was very harsh with very high contrast. Normal people would probably put on their sunglasses and say something like “Look, isn’t it glorious!”. Landscape photographers, on the other hand, are much harder to please…
Rhode Island, Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard
The final leg of the trip took us south to the coast, firstly to Newport in Rhode Island and then onto Chatham in Cape Cod. From Chatham we also found time to do a day trip to Martha’s Vineyard (we took the Hy-Line Ferry from Hyannis which only takes an hour) with a guided tour of the island. One of Martha’s Vineyard’s many claims to fame is that it was the location for the filming of Jaws. I think that they’re a bit embarrassed by this connection though, as hardly anyone mentions it… We also managed a wander around the mansions of Newport and a trip up to the tip of Cape Cod, taking in the coastline and a couple more lighthouses on the way.
Chatham, Cape Cod
Fujifilm X-Pro2 | 35mm f/5.6 1/80s ISO400
I can certainly see the attraction of the area - there’s some lovely beaches and coastline all the way up from Rhode Island to Cape Cod and while I’m glad I’ve seen it it’s probably the area I’d be least likely to revisit. With its proximity to both Boston and New York, the large houses and the mansions perfectly illustrate that it’s an area that attracts the rich and the famous (as well as the famously rich). It seems to be not just a place to see, but also a place to be seen.
On a more practical level, I’d also like to think that if I had a spare $15million to spend on a holiday retreat I’d want to find somewhere that isn’t as busy as Oxford Street on Christmas Eve and somewhere where the streets aren’t gridlocked for most of the summer. However, your mileage may vary…
The weather, though, was great, the views splendid and the food and drink excellent and plentiful.
Conclusions
We had a brilliant time - the weather was great, we saw a beautiful part of the world, ate and drank well and pretty much laughed our way around Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island. (We made a point of having a very humourless ten minutes in New York State). I don’t think we could have asked for much more. The American’s insistence on driving on the wrong side of the road meant that the driving was never relaxed, while being stung by a wasp and ending up with a lump the size of hedgehog on my lip was a bit of a downer. It was not enough, though, to take away from the fact that we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
If you offered me a chance to go back, particularly to anywhere from Boston northwards, I’d take your hand off. I don’t think I can say fairer than that.
The Photography Bit
My complete lack of preparation meant that I wasn’t sure how successful the trip was going to be from a photographic standpoint. I’m happy that I’ve got a decent selection of travel snaps, and there are one or two images in the mix that I really like. That said, I decided quite early on not to stress about the photography and just enjoy the trip and I think that decision helped make the trip so enjoyable.
In terms of kit, I took too much. The Sony was just excellent at getting out of the way and allowing me to concentrate on the subject - it performed pretty much flawlessly over the two and a bit weeks. The 24-105mm zoom covered pretty much everything I needed. The short lens only came out of the bag once and, even then, the images didn’t make the cut. The reasoning behind bringing the long lens was sound, but in the event I may have been better with a lighter, more compact 70-200mm. I will try to remember and learn…
I did make a last minute decision to throw my eight year old Fujifilm X-Pro in the bag, together with a couple of small primes. I thought this might be used as a snapshot camera, but in the end I used the set up more than anticipated. The results from a sensor that is now two generations behind the latest kit far exceed expectations. Again, food for thought…
Where I’m left is that I’ve come away from the trip not just with some half decent images, but with a much improved understanding of what might or might not work on future trips. I don’t think I could have expected much more… I can’t wait for the next one.
